Tag: Lara Adrian

It seems like it has been a while since I have seen any Lara Adrian info floating around, but she recently sent out a newsletter with some details on upcoming Midnight Breed releases. The next novel will be called Midnight Unbound, and it will be out on March 14th. From what I understand, there will be no pre-orders through Amazon, so it won’t be listed until its actual release date of March 14th.

As a former Hunter bred to be a killing machine in the hell of Dragos’s lab, Scythe is a dangerous loner whose heart has been steeled by decades of torment and violence. He has no room in his world for love or desire–especially when it comes in the form of a vulnerable, yet courageous, Breedmate in need of protection. Scythe has loved–and lost–once before, and paid a hefty price for the weakness of his emotions. He’s not about to put himself in those chains again, no matter how deeply he hungers for lovely Chiara.

For Chiara Genova, a widow and mother with a young Breed son, the last thing she needs is to put her fate and that of her child in the hands of a lethal male like Scythe. But when she’s targeted by a hidden enemy, the obsidian-eyed assassin is her best hope for survival . . . even at the risk of her heart.

And the cover has also been upped for the following book, Claimed in Shadows. There isn’t a blurb or official release date for this one yet, other than it is to be out sometime this summer.

I always find it a bit hard to keep track of self-pubbed authors, as I have blathered on about endlessly in the past, because there often isn’t much time between a book announcement and its release date – meaning that often they are already out before I find them listed on Amazon. Other than subscribing to every newsletter from every author, have you found a way to know what is coming when? I do try to keep the new release pages updated, but finding out about books after the fact doesnt’ help much.

I was pretty sure that my last book unhaul was my last. Just like I thought the one before that was the last. And so forth. But I am almost positive that this last one is the final one. Maybe. Sigh.

Anyways, I was ruthless once again and managed to pull almost 100 books from my little collection – and in doing so, I even managed to drop Mount TBR to below 40 books. Beauty!

There have been several authors I haven’t picked up a book from in years. Lara Adrian, Christina Dodd, and Jacquelyn Frank fall into that category, so I finally managed to let them go. A few other authors have series that seem to have petered out, like Alyssa Day and her Warriors of Poseidon and Larissa Ione and the Demonica books…so they got the heave, too. Add in a few more young adult titles, and things are looking good.

I might’ve cheated a bit, though. Since I have decided relatively recently that e-books aren’t exactly the work of the devil, I was all bold and stuff and got rid of a few physical books with the intention of picking them up again for my Kindle. People like Elizabeth Naughton, Elizabeth Hunter, Jessica Sims and even Ilona Andrews‘ Innkeeper Chronicles will now be picked up only in e-format. And the best part? I don’t list the books on my Kindle to be official TBR titles, so I don’t feel like such an epic failure with all the books I haven’t read.

Have you done any big clean outs lately? What old favorite authors could you purge from your collection, or which ones are on the verge?

So, I have been busy the last couple of hours playing around with some behind the scenes stuff, and I thought I should let you know there have been a few changes. They won’t matter to most people, but I am mentioning it on the off chance you go looking for something and can’t find it.

First off, I mentioned that since I was quitting the Arcana Chronicles series from Kresley Cole, I was also giving up the character guide. That has been deleted, along with a couple of others that I enjoyed but just didn’t feel like updating anymore – one is the Shadowhunters guide for Cassandra Clare‘s multiple series, and the other is the Rock Kiss series guide from Nalini Singh. On the Shadowhunters front, I have moved on from YA and don’t want to “have to” read it if I don’t feel like it, and Rock Kiss doesn’t fit the overall PNR/UF theme I have going on so I let it go, too.

I also deleted a few author pages. Tastes change, interests change, and having almost 30 different pages to try and keep updated and edited on a weekly basis was a bit over the top. I did delete the Cassandra Clare page, again because I am not doing young adult too much anymore, and that same reason made me say goodbye to the Richelle Mead section, too. Larissa Ione hasn’t really had much to mentioned for quite a while now, so that one was just taking up space, and I stopped reading Lara Adrian way back when so her page is gone, too. PhoenixFyre has a great character guide for The Midnight Breed that I definitely didn’t want to go to waste, so I moved it HERE.

There was other stuff I could’ve dumped, too, but I decided to wait and see. Maybe I am getting lazy, or just more realistic, but I don’t want this blog to turn into work. I spend a lot of time on it, but it is time I enjoy. When there are things that I start to dread, or have to force myself to do, then it is time to let those things go. I still have plans to add other guides, maybe new authors as I find them, but for now this will keep me busy.

I have been holding a few of these back for a while now, waiting to get enough to make a decent post. Let’s start with one that will be out really, really soon. Or rather, out again. A few of Ilona Andrews previous novellas are being re-released in e-format, and Magic Gifts is due out on December 1st.

And for something new from something old, Jeaniene Frost is releasing a companion book to her Night Huntress series called Outtakes From the Grave. It is a collection of deleted scenes, alternate versions, and commentary from the Cat and Bones world. This one is due out this December 22nd.

Next up is Shadowed Blade, which is the fifth book in the Colbana Files from J.C. Daniels. It is due out on March 16th.

Oh, this was a surprise. I have been wondering what was up next for Lara Adrian‘s Midnight Breed series, since there hasn’t been much news on that front lately. It looks like the next release will be called Defy the Dawn, and it is looking tentatively like a June release. Even though I don’t follow this series anymore, I am still impressed that the change to self-publishing didn’t mean a change in cover design.

Terry Spear‘s Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply, which is part of her Silver Town Wolf series, was originally called She-Wolf Leader of the Pack. It is due out on May 3rd.

These last two are young adult. Soldier is the third book in Julie Kagawa‘s Talon series, and it is due out on April 26th.

And wrapping things up for this post is The Crown, which is the fifth book in The Selection series by Kiera Cass. Look for it on May 3rd.

It has been a while since I have done any housekeeping around here (er, around my house, either, but that is another story). I did manage to get one target reached recently, though. Originally I had done a guide for the Sisters of the Heart series, but since it felt like that was half the story I went back and added all of the info for the Drake Sisters books as well. Since Christine Feehan plans to continue to write books set in Sea Haven, I figured it would make sense. So, the Sisters of the Heart guide will now be changed to the Sea Haven guide, and cover all series set there. One goal down.

I have gotten a few emails recently from people asking when I will get a guide updated, and pretty much everyone got the same answer – soonish. I am going to be working on them for the next few weeks, in no particular order, and I hope to get in the range of caught up by the end of October.

Oh, and I am changing around a few of the author pages. There are some authors that I don’t follow anymore, so I might be dropping a few of them from the featured authors sections. I am pretty sure I will be dropping Lara Adrian, since I stopped reading her a while back, but I am not sure who else.

So, this is your chance. Anything around here you can think of that needs to be changed, updated, or dropped? What sections do you use, what don’t you need, or what would you find helpful?

I owe a big thanks to Phyllis Mayes, who sent over some Thea Harrison news. It looks like Shadow’s End, which is due out December 1st, will be the last traditionally published Elder Races book. The series, however, will continue with a new story arc and at least three more books. Thea is one of a growing list of authors that seem to be leaving big publishing and striking out on their own. According to her Facebook page…

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve committed to writing another three full-length novels in the Elder Races. I’ve developed a new story arc that I’m really excited about, and I can’t wait to share it with readers!

Unfortunately, I was unable to make a contractual match with my publisher Berkley. After deliberating long and hard, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to strike out and self-publish the upcoming new stories.

For the time being, what this means is:

The books will continue to be available through multiple e-book venues.

There will be both print and audiobook versions.

I have a continued commitment to getting my books into as many foreign translations as possible, either on my own or via a publisher.

They’ll continue to be available in libraries. I’ve worked out an agreement with the Nelson Literary Agency to achieve distribution to libraries. (Yay!)

For now, they will NOT be on the shelves in bookstores. Readers will need to buy them online. (While this may certainly change, it is the current reality.)

The really good news is:

I’ll be able to move much more quickly and put out stories in a much more flexible manner than a traditional publisher can. This means I can release more often and tell stories that didn’t fit well within contractual word limits. I’ll also be more involved in creating cover art, which is a personal favorite of mine.

I have to say, this one was even more of a surprise than when Lara Adrian made pretty much the same jump. In Lara’s case, it seems that there hasn’t been much activity on the Midnight Breed front (or at least, not yet), but Thea seems to have a plan for the Elder Races…

I’ll be releasing more information on the upcoming Elder Races stories in the near future, but for now I’ll let you know that I’ll be taking the new story arc across the big puddle to England. The set up for the new direction is in book #9, SHADOW’S END, which releases on December 1st.

Readers will get to fall in love with new characters, keep in touch with old ones, and discover just how much more there is to the Elder Races universe with a much wider story canvass. There will be more world-building, history, magic, and adversaries.

I’m also excited to explore more novellas in the Elder Races, for those story lines that are too delicious not to write yet don’t warrant their own full-length book.

It also looks like there is a new contemporary romantic suspense series on the horizon, as well. Sounds like she will be a busy gal.

Well, what is your take on this? Personally, I am not really a fan. Maybe I just don’t like change, but being in Canada means that most of the time books published this way are way more expensive and harder to get. Plus there is often a switch to a more trade-paperback size which buggers up my shelves (again). Ugh. I wish her well, but I liked things the way they were.

I have to start off by saying I can take absolutely no credit for this. My sole contribution was to hit the cut/paste buttons. PheonixFyre was kind enough to once again share with us one of her character guides, this time for Sherrilyn Kenyon‘s Chronicles of Nick series. She has already contributed guides for Lara Adrian‘s Midnight Breed and J.R. Ward‘s Black Dagger Brotherhood, and she is currently working on one for Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter books (a.k.a. the series that shall not be named until I read it).

Guides are fun, as strange as it sounds, but they take a ton of time to do, and I really appreciate Pheonix sharing her efforts here. I would love to have more done than I do, but they can be slow going and sometimes having someone else help out can get me going, too. So, if you would like to check it out, you can find the Chronicles of Nick guide HERE.

Last year, Lara Adrian announced that she was leaving traditional publishing and striking out on the self-pubbed route. She assured everyone that nothing would change with her popular Midnight Breed series, except that it would no longer be offered in hardcover format. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical, but it looks like word is starting to come out about Bound to Darkness. The good news is that the initial release date of December 31st has been changed…to July 30th. It isn’t often that books get moved ahead, which is a bonus, and here is the cover and blurb to get you into the mood…

Carys Chase is accustomed to making her own rules and letting her heart lead the way–no matter what anyone else has to say about it. A rare Breed female and a daywalker as well, headstrong, beautiful Carys is one of the most powerful of her kind. She lives passionately and loves without limits, especially when it comes to the lethal cage-fighting Breed warrior called Rune.

Unbeatable in the ring, Rune exists in a brutal world of blood and bone and death. He’s made his share of enemies both in and out of the arena, and his secrets run as deep and turbulent as his past. A dangerous loner who has survived by his fists and fangs, Rune has never allowed anyone to get too close to him…until Carys. But when the bodies buried in his past rise up to threaten his present, Rune must choose between betraying Carys’s trust or putting her in the crosshairs of a battle neither of them can hope to win on their own.

So, if you are like me, you are glad to see that the overall cover design stayed the same, even if the format changed (this one will be out in trade paperback rather than hardcover). I actually decided to drop the series a couple of books back, but are you looking forward to checking this one out?

Once again, it was time to do my duty and update the author pages. In the process, there were a few things that came to light. Beware, though, there will be what can be called major spoilers at the end, but it will be marked. Several times. You can’t unsee that sucker, much as I wish.

I actually put off doing up this little post for a few days because I was waiting for the big reveal of the next IAD couple by Kresley Cole. It has been teased for a while now, and today was the big day. And the couple is…still unknown. Huh. Turns out she is working on more than one story, and whichever one gets off the ground first will be it. Have to admit, that wasn’t quite the news I was expecting. I would rather it be “heh…it’s a surprise!” Rather than “uh, I dunno”, but that is probably just me.

On the other hand, there is no question about what Christine Feehan has going on, at all. I have said a few times that Christine Feehan is on a major writing roll lately, getting back to routinely putting out books for all of her series. I didn’t realize how much of a roll, though. Dark Ghost is due out the September, and it will be followed by Dark Promise in March, 2016. Then it will be Dark Carousel (Tariq from the Lost Dark Book is the hero), plus a novella in the Edge of Darkness anthology. There are two more Leopard books after Cat’s Lair (Wild Cat and Leopard’s Fury). The next Sisters of the Heart book, Fire Bound, is already complete, and from what I understand so is the next Ghostwalkers book, Spider Game (featuring Trap and Cayenne). Nice.

Thanks go to Lidy for this one. It turns out that Gena Showalter is devoting 2015 to her new contemporary romance series, The Original Heartbreakers. That means no word on any new Lords of the Otherworld stories for a while, or Angels of the Dark either, for that matter. That is a bummer. What is even more of a bummer is that it looks like both the Alien Huntress and Otherworld Assassin series are dead in the water, as Gena is no longer with that publisher. She has not completely ruled out new stories, but she would have to go the self-pubbed route for those and I just don’t see it myself. That means no Dallas story, and no finishing the Otherworld Assassin trilogy with John’s story. I know things happen, and I don’t get a vote, but I hate it when a series ends with literally only one story left to tell. Drives me nuts.

I already posted this one back a couple of days ago, but we now have an official release date for the second book in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews. There isn’t a title yet (other than one of my most anticipated reads for this coming year), but it will be ours on October 27th.

Kelley Armstrong will be releasing a collection of novellas from her various series called Led Astray. Not much info is known as yet, but it will be out on September 15th.

Bound to Darkness, the next book of Lara Adrian‘s Midnight Breed series (and the first to be self-pubbed) now has a release date. It is looking like a December 31st release, and it will be available in trade paperback, audio and e-format, from what I understand. Not ideal for physical book collectors, since now it covers mass market, hardback and trade, but what are you going to do?

Oh, and on to my 2015 target author (er, which I haven’t started. Yet. But I still have time!), Sherrilyn Kenyon. Her 7th Chronicles of Nick book will be called Invision, and it is due out on April 8th of next year.

This one was welcome news. Thea Harrison is working on Graydon’s story now, and it will be called Shadow’s End. Unfortunately, we just have to wait until December 3rd to get it.

Now, for the spoiler part of the post. While I was hunting for Darynda Jonesinfo, I came across the blurb for The Dirt on Ninth Grave. Unfortunately, I can’t unsee that sucker, because I consider it major spoilery for what happens in Eighth Grave After Dark. I will post it here for those of you who, like me, have no control but wish you did…but be warned.

SPOILERS! SPOILERS – READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, CHARLEY DAVIDSON FANS!

In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she’s more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn’t help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she’s lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

As we head into another year, it is time to take a look back at what stood out in 2014. Most of my choices will surprise no one, since I have my favorites and I am not shy about going on, and on, and on about them, but it never hurts to give a shout out where it is due.

I am looking forward to seeing how my choices stack up with yours, too, and if there was any that I missed. For today, let’s just do the look back at 2014.

What was the best new series that started in 2014?

For me, hands down, it was Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews. I had high, high hopes, and it met every one. No one else even came close.

Best new-to-me series in 2014?

Kelley Armstrong‘s Women of the Otherworld. Loving the Cainsville series made me start it, but I like it now in its own right.

What second book in a new series was as good or better than the first?

This one is a tie between Visions by Kelley Armstrong and Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop. Sometimes the second book of a great series can be a bit of a let-down, but if anything I thought that these two both took things up a notch.

Best series finale?

As much as it sucks to say goodbye, a great finale is a bit of a consolation. My vote for best finale was City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, from her Mortal Instruments series. Loved that one, huge monster that it was. I like young adult, but it usually doesn’t rate as high as my adult books. This one did.

Most read author overall?

Mine was Kelley Armstrong, with 11 books (and still going). Ilona Andrews was next, since I re-read all of the Kate books for the character guide (and loved every minute of it).

Favorite authors of 2014?

Still the same – Ilona andNalini. With Kelley Armstrong steadily moving up the list.

Best change of pace read?

I wasn’t going to do it, since I am not a huge New Adult fan, OR a fan of books where the main character is a famous musician (actor/athlete/model, etc), but because it was Nalini, I gave her new Rock Kiss series a try and liked it. Now, to be fair, I think my favorite part was the build up for book two featuring T-Rex and Charlie, but it still was a pleasant surprise.

Top 5 books of 2014?

What book did you find the biggest let-down in 2014?

I never thought Kresley Cole would ever, ever end up on the bad side of a list like this, but I found my biggest disappointment was Dark Skye. I didn’t find it was a terrible book, but it was just something I couldn’t get into. And after waiting years for the story, I went in planning an A+ read. It just didn’t happen. Runners up were The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost and Night’s Honor by Thea Harrison.

What author/series did you finally give up on, if any?

Mine was Lara Adrian. I was never a huge Midnight Breed fan (except for Darker After Midnight, which was epic), but I had even less interest in the new arc. I tried for years to make myself get more into them, but then I decided that it was time to let it go.

My reading goal was 150 books, and I fell quite a bit short of that. Like, way short. I also got way behind on the Character guides, which is a bit of a pain in the ass since I am now playing a major game of catch-up, but I have higher hopes for 2015. All in all, though, I can’t complain. There was a lot more good than bad, and even the bad might look better this time next year.